Graphical display of data can aid in interpretation of the data and detection of trends or relationships among series of data. Typically, scaling of the data is necessary in order to properly display data in a graph. When multiple series of data are to be displayed on the same graph, scaling can become more difficult. Improper scaling of the data can hide variations in the data. Also, positioning of the data series can aid in ease of comparison among series of data. The need to fit all the data onto the same graph, while maintaining legibility of the data, can become difficult with many data series.
Data can be obtained from a wide variety of sources. For example, spreadsheets, databases, accounting programs and other computer programs can provide data for graphical display. Also, professionals from diverse areas such as engineering, science, education, and economics build mathematical models of dynamic systems in order to better understand system behavior as it changes with the progression of time.
The field of telemetry often involves multiple series of data. Graphical displays are used to determine qualitative relationships between different signals, each expressed in a series of data. However, these graphical displays can be difficult to read and to create. Typically, these plots cannot be interactively manipulated. A parameter file is used which gives the locations and scales of each signal. This parameter file is often created through many iterations of trial and error. Once created, the same parameter file is often used for similar data, as the effort required to change the parameter file is substantial.